Looking back on 2012, XFC president and matchmaker John Prisco feels it was the promotion’s best year yet.

“We were actually quite busy, whereas other promotions weren’t doing as many shows,” said Prisco. “Our shows were top quality and a lot of our fighters became recognized in 2012, which is very exciting. This is the year I think we became recognized on AXS TV as their number one promotion, which is exciting in itself.

“We were expecting to do these many shows and we thought they would be high-level show and were excited about the talent we had coming into the XFC. The fighters certainly performed and the fights were definitely top-shelf.”

In a year full of great fights, Prisco feels it was the promotion’s last show that provided its highlight moment of the year.

“I think the biggest moment, and one of the biggest moments in all of MMA, was our last moment in 2012 with Nick Newell winning the XFC lightweight title,” said Prisco.

The lightweight division is also home to fighters Prisco feels helped make waves in 2012 and will continue to do so in 2013.

“Scott Holtzman and Jason Hicks also had great years,” said Prisco. “They’ll actually be meeting in the main event of our February event in Charlotte (N.C.) with the winner to become Nick Newell’s first title defense. Those are two guys you’ve got to really keep an eye out for.”

It’s not only the men that stood out for the XFC this year, Prisco told MMAWeekly.com that there is a growing abundance of female fighters that will help form a solid foundation for the company next year.

“Stephanie Eggink is a female fighter you want to keep an eye on,” said Prisco. “She just beat Heather Clark in Nashville impressively. She’ll be fighting Angela Magana who is a recent signing who has big wins over people like Jessica Aguilar.

“Every fight card we have, we have one high-level female bout on that card. In 2013 you might see an occasional two female bouts on a fight card. The fans love it, the girls deserve it, they’re very technical, they’re great fighters, and we love putting them out there.”

Echoing many promotions goals for 2013, Prisco feels expansion is going to be the key for the XFC’s success in 2013.

“We have a home on AXS TV, but we’re also very anxious to add another network so we can be on a duel platform and do more shows,” he said. “The goal for us next year is to do about 14 shows, one every three weeks. By doing that we can expand our roster of fighters, do a lot more fighter tryouts, and expand into more venues.

“We’ll be doing more shows in North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, and doing military shows that could take us all over the country like maybe Ft. Hood in Texas and Connecticut. I expect us to keep going to venues we’ve been going to, but also reaching out into new markets.”

Save for a two-fight comeback in 2012, we haven't seen much of Mike Swick in recent years. And while the TUF 1 standout is well-liked in the business, his return fight on Saturday night unfortunatelyread news >>